On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. Should they reschedule for another day? Around three o'clock, the rain finally stops. At four, voters rush to the polling stations, as if ordered to appear. But when the ballots are counted, more than 70% are blank. The citizens are rebellious. A state of emergency is declared. The president proposes that a wall be built around the city. But are the authorities acting too precipitously? Or even blindly? The word evokes terrible memories of the plague of blindness that hit the city four years before, and of the one woman who kept her sight. Could she be behind the blank ballots? Is she the organizer of a conspiracy against the state? What begins as a satire on governments and the sometimes dubious efficacy of the democratic system turns into something far more sinister.--From publisher description.
On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. Should they reschedule for another day? Around three o'clock, the rain finally stops. At four, voters rush to the polling stations, as if ordered to appear. But when the ballots are counted, more than 70% are blank. The citizens are rebellious. A state of emergency is declared. The president proposes that a wall be built around the city. But are the authorities acting too precipitously? Or even blindly? The word evokes terrible memories of the plague of blindness that hit the city four years before, and of the one woman who kept her sight. Could she be behind the blank ballots? Is she the organizer of a conspiracy against the state? What begins as a satire on governments and the sometimes dubious efficacy of the democratic system turns into something far more sinister.--From publisher description.
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Blindness
Blindness
8 books in catalog
Allegorical parables blending realistic historical settings with whimsical fiction define a distinct body of twentieth-century fiction, most famously realized in Baltasar and Blimunda. Written by José Saramago, these works use imaginative premises to re-examine historical events, human institutions, and political power.
Born José de Sousa Saramago (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), the Portuguese novelist received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony that continually enable readers to apprehend an elusory reality.
Born into a family of landless rural laborers in the village of Azinhaga, Portugal, Saramago experienced poverty after his family moved to Lisbon. Financial circumstances forced him to leave high school to train as a car mechanic. He worked in various civil service roles before spending twelve years at a publishing firm and later working as a journalist, eventually serving as assistant editor at Diário de Notícias. His political involvement included joining the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969. After losing his newspaper position following political events in November 1975, Saramago turned to writing fiction full-time in his fifties.
In 1998, Saramago became the first Portuguese-language writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2003, literary critic Harold Bloom described Saramago as the most gifted novelist alive in the world today. Saramago continued to produce major literary works during his later years while residing in Lanzarote, Spain, where he lived until his death in 2010.
Saramago's narrative style is characterized by long, sweeping sentences, unconventional punctuation, and seamless dialogue woven directly into dense paragraphs. His novels operate as allegories and modern parables, placing surreal or speculative premises against grounded historical backdrops to explore human behavior and social structures.
Central to his output is a subversive perspective on established historical and religious narratives, emphasizing the human factor and theopoetic themes. Works such as Journey to Portugal demonstrate his descriptive focus on regional landscapes, while his novels frequently investigate individual responsibility and authority.
8 books in catalog
Allegorical parables blending realistic historical settings with whimsical fiction define a distinct body of twentieth-century fiction, most famously realized in Baltasar and Blimunda. Written by José Saramago, these works use imaginative premises to re-examine historical events, human institutions, and political power.
Born José de Sousa Saramago (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), the Portuguese novelist received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony that continually enable readers to apprehend an elusory reality.
Born into a family of landless rural laborers in the village of Azinhaga, Portugal, Saramago experienced poverty after his family moved to Lisbon. Financial circumstances forced him to leave high school to train as a car mechanic. He worked in various civil service roles before spending twelve years at a publishing firm and later working as a journalist, eventually serving as assistant editor at Diário de Notícias. His political involvement included joining the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969. After losing his newspaper position following political events in November 1975, Saramago turned to writing fiction full-time in his fifties.
In 1998, Saramago became the first Portuguese-language writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2003, literary critic Harold Bloom described Saramago as the most gifted novelist alive in the world today. Saramago continued to produce major literary works during his later years while residing in Lanzarote, Spain, where he lived until his death in 2010.
Saramago's narrative style is characterized by long, sweeping sentences, unconventional punctuation, and seamless dialogue woven directly into dense paragraphs. His novels operate as allegories and modern parables, placing surreal or speculative premises against grounded historical backdrops to explore human behavior and social structures.
Central to his output is a subversive perspective on established historical and religious narratives, emphasizing the human factor and theopoetic themes. Works such as Journey to Portugal demonstrate his descriptive focus on regional landscapes, while his novels frequently investigate individual responsibility and authority.
